Midostaurin inhibits hormone-refractory prostate cancer PC-3 cells by modulating nPKCs and AP-1 transcription factors and their target genes involved in cell cycle

Background: The development of prostate cancer from a clinically localized, hormone-naive state to a hormonerefractory phenotype involves a complex interplay of protein kinase C (PKC) and activator protein-1 (AP-1). Therefore, the present study aimed to uncover the roles of PKC and AP-1 through midostaurin-mediated regulation�a multi-target protein kinase inhibitor. Methods: Androgen Receptor-negative, hormone-refractory prostate cancer cells (PC-3) were used as an in-vitro model system. The effect of midostaurin on cell viability was assessed by an MTT assay. Expression studies on PKC-α, PKC-d, different AP-1 transcription factors, and AP-1 regulating genes were analyzed by semiquantitative RT-PCR, and protein levels of Bcl-2 were evaluated by western blotting. Results: Midostaurin decreased the viability of hormone-refractory PC-3 cells. Furthermore, midostaurin significantly induced the transcripts of apoptotic-mediated PKC-d, tumor suppressor p53, cell cycle inhibitor p21cip1/waf1, death receptor TNF-α, pro-apoptotic Bax, and Caspase-8, and eventually inhibited the expression of pro-survival PKC-ε, pro-oncogene c-Jun, c-Fos, Fra-1, positive growth regulator cyclin D1, and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. In addition, midostaurin also decreased the protein expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2. Conclusion: The present study provided evidence that midostaurin suppresses tumor growth and induces apoptosis in hormone-refractory PC-3 cells via modulation of PKC-d and PKC-ε expression, and regulation of PMA-altered c-Jun, c-Fos, and Fra-1 AP-1 transcription factors and their target genes involved in cell cycle regulation (cyclin D1, p53, p21, Bcl-2, and TNF-α). Thus, pharmacological targeting of PKC and AP-1 factors may have therapeutic potential against hormone-refractory prostate cancer. © 2017, Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Acid and enzyme hydrolysis to convert pretreated areca nut (areca catechu l.) husk into glucose for bioethanol production by yeasts and Zymomonas mobilis NCIM 2915

Production of renewable fuels, especially bio-ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass, holds remarkable potential to meet the current energy demand as well as to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions for a sustainable environment. Determining optimal pretreatment techniques for fermentation is essential for the success of lignocellulosic energy production process. The study involved the acid pretreatment and use of laccase enzyme to degrade the complex lignocellulosic biomass to simple sugars. Sugars so formed in turn are converted to ethanol by employing suitable yeast strains and bacterium Zymomonas mobilis. Different fermentation process like separate hydrolysis and fermentation process (SHF) and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process (SSF) have been evaluated for the biethanol production. In separate hydrolysis and fermentation process, the higher ethanol production was in Zymomonas mobilis (44.97±3.21 g/L) and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (42.60±3.0 g/L), average ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (33.13±1.96 g/L) and very low ethanol production in Candida shehatae (25.24±2.30 g/L). In simultaneous saccharification and fermentation process, the higher ethanol production was in Zymomonas mobilis (47.34±3.22 g/L) and Saccharomyces uvarum (44.18±2.67 g/L), average ethanol production in Pichia stipitis (34.71±1.89 g/L), and very low ethanol production in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (26.82±2.63 g/L) was monitored after the fermentation process. Structural changes of areca nut husk before and after acid pretreatment were further investigated through Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Hence, acid and enzymatic pre-treatment is more effective for ethanol production. Areca nut husk was revealed as a suitable substrate for ethanol production.Â

ALGORITHMS FOR CONSTRUCTING EDGE MAGIC TOTAL LABELING OF COMPLETE BIPARTITE GRAPHS

The study of graph labeling has focused on finding classes of graphs which admits a particular type of labeling. In this paper we consider a particular class of graphs which demonstrates Edge Magic Total Labeling. The class we considered here is a complete bipartite graph Km,n. There are various graph labeling techniques that generalize the idea of a magic square has been proposed earlier. The definition of a magic labeling on a graph with v vertices and e edges is a one to one map taking the vertices and edges onto the integers 1,2,3,………, v+e with the property that the sum of the label on an edge and the labels of its endpoints is constant independent of the choice of edge. We use m x n matrix to construct edge magic total labeling of Km,n

An approach to obtain specific polyclonal antisera to Xanthomonas campestris pv. cyamopsidis and its potential application in indexing of infected seeds of guar

Clusterbean seed health testing is warranted since the pathogen (Xanthomonas campestris pv. cyamopsidis (Xccy)) is seed-borne and seed-transmitted. A polyclonal antibody was developed in rabbit via subcutaneous and intramuscular injections and characterized for sensitivity, specificity and its applicability to ELISA which: (i) was sensitive in detecting as few as 102 cells ml−1 at a titre of 1:4000; (ii) was specific, since it reacted only with Xccy and not with other xanthomonads; (iii) reacted both with Xccy cells and culture filtrate, indicating that the antigenic determinant is a secretory component; (iv) was applicable and reliable in seed health testing since it reacted only with infected seeds and plant materials and not with healthy seeds and (v) a purified fraction of antibody was virulent-specific since heat-denatured and avirulent isolates were not detected. The ELISA thus developed is highly reproducible and therefore suitable for the evaluation of the potential disease status of seeds and plant health, which is appropriate for routine seed health testing

Opportunistic screening of at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) once considered an adult disease is now being reported in children and adolescents all over the world due to a parallel increase in obesity. Prediabetes is an intermediate stage between no diabetes and diagnosis of DM. Objective: To screen at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes state. Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted in the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in South India. All adolescent children between the age group of 10 and 18 years with evidence of overweight as per the World Health Organization age and sex specific centile charts for body mass index (BMI) were enrolled. The study period was 18-month. Anthropometric and demographic data were collected among these subjects and investigated for oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), fasting blood glucose (FBG), and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) as per the designed protocol. Results: Prediabetes was diagnosed in 13% of the study population with a combination of OGTT, FBG, and HbA1c tests. Prediction of prediabetes by OGTT was 10%, HbA1c 5% and by FBS was 3%. Combination of impaired glucose tolerance test with HbA1c had high sensitivity (92%) and specificity (100%). Conclusions: Our study had 13% population with increasing risk of developing T2DM. Further longitudinal studies are required to screen at risk asymptomatic adolescent children for prediabetes

Bhoo Samruddhi : A Compendium of Success Stories, Research Report IDC-2

Across the world, rainfed areas are hotspots of poverty, malnutrition and degradation of natural resources. In India, of 142 m ha of arable lands, 60% is rainfed. Karnataka has the second largest area under rainfed agriculture only after Rajasthan in the country. Farmers’ crop yields in dryland areas are quite low (1.0 -1.5 t ha-1), about two to five times below potential yield. Recent findings from the ‘Comprehensive Assessment of Water for Food and Water for Life’ revealed that the millennium development goal of reducing the number of poor people by half can be met only through efficient use of scarce water resources for agriculture. Food production can be increased substantially in rainfed areas by applying enhanced water use efficiency measures, improving soil health status, and implementing other new technologies in an integrated approach. It is evident that the vast potential of rainfed agriculture can be unlocked by using available scientific technologies including improved cultivars. Recognizing the problem, the Department of Agriculture (DoA), Government of Karnataka (GoK), has adopted science-led initiatives for achieving impact oriented development in the state. In this endeavor, it has sought to bring in international expertise to unlock the potential of rainfed agriculture in the state. Bhoochetana, the farmer-centric initiative taken up by GoK has benefited more than 4.3 million farm households in the state. In addition, the government has initiated a number of innovative measures to improve agricultural production and livelihood of farmers in the state during the last four years. Realizing high impacts in terms of increased agricultural productivity, increased gross value of agriculture production and improved livelihoods, the state government requested ICRISAT to lead a consortium of CGIAR institutions working in India, and to operationalize impact oriented research for development with the aim of improving rural livelihoods. The ICRISAT-led consortium took up this challenge and established a “proof of concept” for translating strategic research knowledge into improving livelihoods through scaling up of the participatory research for development (PR4D) model. A number of meetings and stakeholder consultations were held to identify constraints and problems of all four pilot locations, and the project was begun in 2013-14..

VOLTE CLIENT ON WINDOWS PLATFORM

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 4G technology developed by the 3GPP standards. Pre-LTE networks, 2G/3G/EDGE/HSPA/UMTS were used for data in conjunction with circuit switched GSM for Voice calls. Since LTE being only packet switched, for voice calls VoLTE that is based on IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) framework is the solution. LTE network has more advancement such as higher data transfer rate up to 100 MBPS [1], higher bandwidth, low latency, more efficient use of the network resources and lower operational cost compared to pre-LTE networks. In the existing solution, the Application Processor, directly calls the services from Service Adaptation Layer (SAL) of the IMS framework, bypassing the Universal Terminal API (UTA) layer in VoLTE client on Windows platform. The proposed work implements UTA sublayer between Application Processor and IMS framework, replicating the behavior of Target Hardware/Modem platform to Windows platform. This enables the Application Processor to call all the services of IMS framework using UTA layer instead of calling it from SAL directly. Thus, porting Modem platform specific UTA layer to Windows platform. The implementation also covers GUI enhancements, to adapt to Windows Platform. The results achieved shows that, debugging and development effort reduced from 75% to 25% of time. It also allows to verify the UTA services on Windows platform without using any Target Hardware/Modem platform and Network Simulators, thus completely eliminating dependency on hardware resource

Hysteresis in sorption. XIII. Mode of preparation of silica gel and its influence on hysteresis

This article does not have an abstract

Incidence and importance of plant-parasitic nematodes on pigeon pea and groundnut in Karnataka State in southern India

Samples were collected from 68 pigeon pea and 93 groundnut fields in five districts of Karnataka State, India. Heterodera cajani was found in all the locations in pigeonpea fields, with nematode densities greater in Belgaum and Gulbarga districts than in others. Rotylenchulus reniformis was present in 75% of the samples and nematode densities were greater in Dharwad and Bijapur than in other districts. Average population densities of eggs and juveniles of H. cajani was 62% higher on Vertisols. Other nematodes present were: Aphelenchoides spp., Ditylenchus spp., Helicotylenchus retusus, Helicotylenchus sp., Hoplolaimus seinhorsti, Hoplolaimus sp., Meloidogyne sp., Pratylenchus coffeae, P. delattrei, P. zeae, Tylenchorhynchus vulgaris and Tylenchorhynchus sp. Pratylenchus spp. were predominant and highest density of 1.9 Pratylenchus per cubic cm of soil was observed at Chikodi in Belgaum district. Lesions on groundnut pods were not serious in any region and Meloidogyne spp. were not important on these crops., 4 ref., Samples were collected from 68 pigeon pea and 93 groundnut fields in five districts of Karnataka State, India. Heterodera cajani was found in all the locations in pigeonpea fields, with nematode densities greater in Belgaum and Gulbarga districts than in others. Rotylenchulus reniformis was present in 75% of the samples and nematode densities were greater in Dharwad and Bijapur than in other districts. Average population densities of eggs and juveniles of H. cajani was 62% higher on Vertisols. Other nematodes present were: Aphelenchoides spp., Ditylenchus spp., Helicotylenchus retusus, Helicotylenchus sp., Hoplolaimus seinhorsti, Hoplolaimus sp., Meloidogyne sp., Pratylenchus coffeae, P. delattrei, P. zeae, Tylenchorhynchus vulgaris and Tylenchorhynchus sp. Pratylenchus spp. were predominant and highest density of 1.9 Pratylenchus per cubic cm of soil was observed at Chikodi in Belgaum district. Lesions on groundnut pods were not serious in any region and Meloidogyne spp. were not important on these crops

Soil Nutrient Mapping for On-farm Fertility Management

Feeding the projected population of 9.1 billion globally and 1.6 billion in India by 2050 is one of the greatest challenges of the century, and in this endeavour to ensure future food security, efficient soil nutrient management is crucial (Wani et al., 2003; Sahrawat et al., 2010; Chander et al., 2013). Since the era of the Green Revolution in India in the late 1960s, the focus has been on only three macronutrients, namely nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K), and this has brought nutrient imbalances and widespread deficiencies of micro and secondary nutrients such as sulfur (S), boron (B) and zinc (Zn) in addition to macronutrients (Wani et al., 2009; Sahrawat and Wani, 2013; Chander et al., 2014). Most farmers and stakeholders are not aware of soil fertility issues and management alongside water and crop management, which is the main reason for large yield gaps in the semi-arid tropics (SAT). In order to ensure future food security and the future of smallholder farmers, science-led interventions are needed to bridge the yield gaps in the SAT. Some pilot initiatives such as the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)—Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood Programme (APRLP) initiative in Andhra Pradesh and the Bhoochetana initiative in Karnataka have shown that soil nutrient mapping is the best entry point activity to enhance productivity and livelihoods through soil-needbased fertility management (Wani et al., 2011; Chander et al., 2013; Sahrawat and Wani, 2013). This chapter therefore focuses on soil fertility management issues and the need of soil nutrient mapping for informed decisions..